Posted on 02/05/2008 9:14:27 AM PST by Homer_J_Simpson
HITLER ASSUMES CONTROL OF ARMY;
RETIRES 15 GENERALS AND SHIFTS 25;
RIBBENTROP MADE FOREIGN MINISTER
AIDE TO RULE ARMY
Blomberg, Fritch Are Retired – Goering Is Made Marshal
PAPEN, OTHERS RECALLED
Neurath Heads Secret Foreign Affairs Board – Reichstag Summoned for Feb. 20
By OTTO D. TOLISCHUS
Wireless to THE NEW YORK TIMES
BERLIN, Feb 4.-The National Socialist Cabinet crisis that has been smoldering for a week behind walls of silence came to an end tonight when with a Napoleonic gesture Chancellor Adolf Hitler assumed personal charge both of the armed forces and the Third Reich’s foreign policy.
He reorganized both his Cabinet and the high army command along lines that not only further consolidate his own power but also make him the central authority for a military and economic mobilization of Germany analogous to the recent French example.
The principal changes involved in this reorganization are as follows:
I. In the Army Command
Both Field Marshal Werner von Blomberg, the War Minister, and Colonel General Werner von Fritsch, Commander in Chief of the army, are relieved of their posts on grounds of “ill health,” and, in the words of a decree issued tonight, Hitler assumes “personal and direct command over all the armed forces.”
This command will be exercised through a “supreme command of the armed forces,” headed by General Wilhelm Keitel, hitherto chief of the Wehrmachtsamt or administrative department in the War Ministry, who becomes the technical successor of Marshal von Blomberg, equal in rank to a Cabinet Minister and Hitler’s personal chief of staff.
He also takes over the War Ministry, and “in peace takes charge,” according to Hitler’s orders, “of the unitary preparations for national defense in all fields.”
Col. Gen. Walter von Brauchitsch, commander of the First Army Corps, is appointed Commander in Chief of the army, succeeding General von Fritsch.
Col. Gen. Hermann Goering, in his capacity as Commander in Chief of the air force, is promoted to field marshal, which puts him in rank above all the generals in the army and may or may not be compensation for his failure to get the War portfolio.
Hitler immediately ordered a complete shake-up of the foremost commanding generals, involving the retirement of seven army and six air force generals in addition to Marshal von Blomberg and General von Fritsch, new commands for twenty-two generals and eight colonels and the placing of three generals at the disposal of the supreme army command and the army’s Commander in Chief. The retirements include most of General von Fritsch’s liaison officers.
II. In the Cabinet
Baron Constantin von Neurath has been relieved of his post as Foreign Minister and Joachim von Ribbentrop, Ambassador to London, has been appointed his successor.
Simultaneously, however, Hitler has created a “Secret Cabinet Council” for the purpose, it is stated in the decree, of “advising him in the conduct of foreign policy,” and Baron von Neurath has been made its president, in which capacity he stays in the Cabinet.
The other members of the Council are Herr von Ribbentrop, Field Marshal Goering, Rudolf Hess, deputy leader of the Nazi party and Minister Without Porfolio; Dr. Joseph Goebbels, Minister of Propaganda; General von Brauchitsch, Admiral-General Erich Raeder, Naval Chief of Staff; General Keitel and Dr. Hans Heinrich Lammers, Minister Without Portfolio and Chief of the Reich Chancellery.
Walther Funk, it is officially announced, has assumed office as Economic Minister as of Feb. 1 and will be formally inducted by Marshal Goering as Commissioner for the Four-Year Plan next Tuesday.
Finally Franz von Papen, Ambassador to Vienna; Ulrich von Hassell, Ambassador to Rome, and Dr. Herbert von Dirksen, Ambassador to Tokyo, have been recalled from their posts. With Herr von Ribbentrop that means a change in four of the principal Ambassadorships. No successors for them have been announced thus far.
A Reichstag session has been called for Sunday, Feb. 20, at which, it may be assumed, Hitler will have these sweeping changes voted and explain their significance.
Thus the storm precipitated by Marshal von Blomberg’s unusual marriage and the challenge of it by the army generals that raised so many other latent issues and turned them into a test of power between the army and the National Socialist regime has found a solution that exceeds all prognostications.
At first glance it appears like a National Socialist victory, but there are also elements of compromise in it that make full appraisal of it difficult. The only thing clear is that in the face of conflicting interests Hitler, like Premier Mussolini of Italy, has taken personal charge of all important policies and that the National Socialist regime has become more of a one-man government than ever.
That this sweeping organization should not proceed without strain or stress is natural and explains the heated atmosphere in Berlin during the last week.
In fact, if rumors current tonight are to be credited, Germany has just escaped another purge that this time would have struck the army, and at least one high general is reported to have been under house arrest, although it is naturally impossible to verify this report and the official reason for his staying at home was given as a cold.
Soviet Struggle Recalled
Inescapably, the events of the last week recall the similar test of power between the ruling party and the army in Soviet Russia, except that in Germany there were no shots in the neck. And just how wide the door has been opened for the further infiltration of party influence into the armed forces and how far the Potsdam code is to be replaced by the National Socialist Weltenachauung [world philosophy] within them remain to be seen.
If Marshal Goering was rightly credited with the ambition of becoming War Minister, he has failed to attain it, and the same is true of General Walter von Reichenau, who was supposed to have been a candidate for chief of staff or commander-in-chief.
Despite the hastening of the shakeup among the commanding generals, which had not been expected until the Fall, and despite the fact that the reason for the retirement of some of them on such an occasion may suggest some obvious speculations, both General Keitel and General von Brauchitsch are soldiers of the old German tradition and so are the other officers named in the long list of appointments and transfers.
Included among the retired generals are General Lutz, commander of the new armored divisions, and General von Niebelschuetz, inspector of war schools. General von Reichenau, on the other hand, has been transferred from Munich, where he has been commander of the Seventh Army Corps, to be commander of the First Army Corps, succeeding General von Brauchitsch.
The Foreign Office Shake-Up
Perhaps the most intriguing reorganization, however, is that in the Foreign Office, and its significance ca be judged only by its future results.
The recall of the ambassadors in Vienna, Rome and Tokyo, viewed in the light of the visit of Sir Nevile Henderson, the British Ambassador, to London on a mission designed to continue the talks proposed by Viscount Halifax’s visit to Berlin, is taken in some circles here as a possible suggestion of a change in policy, although it would be premature to speculate on it.
Although the German public had gradually become aware that something was in the wind, nevertheless the sweeping nature of the reorganization took it completely by surprise. The first notice of it was served at 10 P. M. over the radio, which issued a call to all to stand by for an important announcement that finally came at midnight.
The morning newspapers will splash the news, of course, not only across their front pages but also on inside pages under the motto “All power to the Fuehrer.”
Chancellor Hitler addressed to the retiring army commanders letters of congratulation on their work. He wrote to Marshal von Blomberg:
Since the complete reconstruction of German sovereignty in military and territorial affairs in 1936 you have often asked me to relieve you of your duties, which placed a heavy burden on your health.
Now, after the fifth year of the re-creation of our nation and army, I will grant your repeated request. May you find in the period of care for your health lying before you the rest that you deserve more than any others.
For myself and the German nation I express to you in this hour our profound gratitude.
Letter to General von Fritsch
To General von Fritsch Hitler wrote:
For reasons of health you have found yourself forced to ask me to relieve you of your duties.
As your recent visit in the south has not had the hoped-for effect, I have decided to grant your request.
I take this occasion of your retirement from the active army to honor your great accomplishments in the cause of the reconstruction of the army and express my profound gratitude. Your name will be forever bound up with the re-creation and strengthening of the German Army in the period from March, 1935, to February, 1938.
To Baron von Neurath Hitler wrote:
On the occasion of the completion of the first half-decade of National Socialist Government you have requested me to allow you to retire.
I am not able to grant this request as I cannot spare your services even in view of your recent sixty-fifth birthday and fortieth anniversary of service. In the five years of our work together your counsel and your judgment have become a necessity for me.
When I therefore relieve you of your duties in the Reich Ministry for Foreign Affairs and appoint you president of the secret Cabinet Council, it is in order to have in future a counselor by my side at the highest point in the Reich.
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I'm currently rereading Rise and Fall of the Third Reich for the umpteenth time - a fascinating period of history!
The back story of the events described in the news article are covered in Chapter 10 of Rise and Fall.
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Great post, great idea, excellent choice of timeframe. Please add me to your ping list.
2/5/38
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